Roots of the great recession

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/12/galbraith-change-of-direction.html

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It is not the case that inequality rose and people compensated for it by borrowing more so they could have a higher standard of consumption. This is not what happened. It certainly did not happen in the United States. What happened was, is that the lenders went out to find new markets, often fostering fraudulent loans on low-information borrowers, poor borrowers, inner city home owners, for example; forcing those loans to be refinanced so that the recipient only saw a fraction of the debt with which they were ultimately saddled. And the inequality arose from the booking of fees on those loans. This is how bankers get rich. They make their money in this way.

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